What are popular economies?: Some reflections from Argentine

Abstract

What forms does living labour take, today, outside of the factory? In an Argentinean context, this question has grown in importance ever since the eruption of movements of unemployed workers at the beginning of this century. Such collective movements dis-located the workers’ ‘picket line’ – that classic deployment of force in the factory – by taking it to the streets and highways. Since then, a myriad of forms of work ‘without a boss’, exemplified by the hundreds of factories and companies that have been recuperated by their workers, have emerged as a response to systematic layoffs, bankruptcies and capital flight. Such projects gave rise to forms of self-management that have combined benefits packages won from the state with a strong desire for autonomy, territorial enterprises with popular assemblies, and the valorisation of community work framed by the urgent need to survive in an increasingly desperate situation.